Recommend a tent?

[jags]

Dont get me wrong hilleberg make great tents that's for sure, but really they could surly come up with a much better desigh and a much cheaper tent for the cycle tourist. all there tents seem to be 4 season for the adventure cyclist or mountain climbers, i'm neither and if i wanted to buy a hilleberg i would have to take out a bank load,i did own the akto hated it like sleeping in a coffin and not a lot of room seriously would not like to spend more than one night in it thats for sure.
most cycle tourers tour in the summer months ok, i know there a few hard chaws out there but it's a summer sport or hobby.so why then does hilleberg not cater for people like me,surly it cant be that hard for the designers to come up with the perfect cycle touring tent.
light.
stront.
easy to pitch.
pitch all in one.
weatherproof.
loads room.
easy on the pocket.
simple enough hilleberg thing of the millions of these tents you could sell .
ok so put me up against the wall and shoot me for thinking such thoughts.

[looe]

Dont get me wrong hilleberg make great tents that's for sure, but really they could surly come up with a much better desigh and a much cheaper tent for the cycle tourist. all there tents seem to be 4 season for the adventure cyclist or mountain climbers, i'm neither and if i wanted to buy a hilleberg i would have to take out a bank load,i did own the akto hated it like sleeping in a coffin and not a lot of room seriously would not like to spend more than one night in it thats for sure.
most cycle tourers tour in the summer months ok, i know there a few hard chaws out there but it's a summer sport or hobby.so why then does hilleberg not cater for people like me,surly it cant be that hard for the designers to come up with the perfect cycle touring tent.
light.
stront.
easy to pitch.
pitch all in one.
weatherproof.
loads room.
easy on the pocket.
simple enough hilleberg thing of the millions of these tents you could sell .
ok so put me up against the wall and shoot me for thinking such thoughts.

Well,
Rolls-Royce don't do a budget car do they???? Same thing with Hilleberg........Quality

[jags]

but looe you don't have to but a roller to have a quality car ford will sort you out on that score.

[pjclinch]

Dont get me wrong hilleberg make great tents that's for sure, but...

In other words, you want something that good that you don't have to pay for... Well, if it was that easy then everyone would be doing it!

surly it cant be that hard for the designers to come up with the perfect cycle touring tent.
light.
stront.
easy to pitch.
pitch all in one.
weatherproof.
loads room.
easy on the pocket.

If it "can't be that hard" then why does nobody (not just Hilleberg) do quite what you want?

It's long been an adage of lightweight tent design that you can have two out of three from light, strong, cheap. If Hilleberg (or indeed anyone else) could break out of that then I'm sure they would, but quality costs Real Money (tm). c.f. "bicycles". Certainly Hilles are eye-wateringly priced and part of that will be paying for a name synonymous with excellent quality, but they wouldn't be in business if they were simply over-charging. You might have numpties buying bling for the sake of showing it off, but there really aren't that many opportunities to show off tents and even if there were, not many people who'd be that impressed!

Oh, and catering to people who only want a 3 season design has been in the catalogue for at least a couple of years now. Check out the Anjan 2/3 (GT) and the Rogen. No, you don't have to spend that much and can get an excellent tent for much less. We use a Hubba Hubba HP rather than a Rogen for reasons of price, but I do miss Hilleberg's pitching ease and if the lottery numbers came up, that's what I'd have (much as my 3x9 derailleurs would go in favour of a Rohloff).

Pete.

[simonineaston]

No tent-focused phrase or saying so likely to get the experts going so much as that H-word...

[hamster]

Take a look at the Wild Country Duolite (and Tourer version). It sounds like it ticks most of your boxes.
At the minimal end, my Jack Wolfskin Gossamer fits pretty well, provided you are only going to sleep in the thing and not live in it. The build quality is impressive and it has proven totally weatherproof. I suspect it would be too cold for winter camping, and cooking has to be done outside.

I'll get back to my hideout before the Hilleberg Taliban come after me.

[jags]

http://www.outdoorgearlab.com/Backpacki ... rg-Anjan-2

570 dol for that WHY

PETE im sure your an expert in touring and camping.
me i'm a fair weather tourer,when i bought my hilleberg akto i was so excited about this wonderfull 1 man tent ,ticked all the boxes and what have you,well when i pitched it for the first time i could have cryed what a piece of junk how in the hell could they justerfy the price.ok it was light easy to pitch kept out the rain but man give me a break £470 for that .
moral of this story never buy a tent until you see it pitched and packed.
sorry lads not trying to be a smart ass but surly there someone out there that know exactly what a cycle tourist wants in a tent and can make the thing.

[bikepacker]

jags. Your North Face tent would suit most cycle campers, I still don't understand your reluctance to go camping with it. A Nallo 2GT would give you very little extra but as you say a lot more cost. Both Pauline and me have a lot of reservations about the Anjan. We tried out the 2GT model and wasn't too impressed.

[jags]

Bikepacker its actually a mountain hardware speargt2 it weight 2kg which i suppose for its size ginormas is pretty good, but its a bit bulky to fit in my camper saddle bag,but im working on that.

now i've seen you pitch both the nammajt and nallo gt2, i honestly didnt think it was possible to pitch a tent so feckin fast.you also seen me struggle with my tent but you got to admit its not a bad tent, in the hands of an expert like yourself can you honestly say your hilly is £600 better than mine.

i bet a pound to a penny you have a design in your head for the perfect touring tent now if only you could get someone to make it

[bikepacker]

You seem to do your calculations based on basic cost; surely there are other factors to consider. Usage has to be taken into consideration. If you pay £100 for a tent with a 5 year life and only use it for a couple of nights a year, it works out expensive. Compare that to a £500 tent with a 10 year life and you use for at least 40 nights a year, it works out cheaper. My Hilleberg tents have been used for well over a 1000 nights in the last 15 years divide that into the cost and I have had a bargain.

Also regarding speed of erecting the tent, putting them up that often gives a lot of practice hence one becomes faster.

The Nammatj 2GT fits the bill for most of my needs, the only changes I would make would be, to get 5cm more height so I can sit more comfortably on my Helinox chair, and to change back to the original door arrangement which I consider to be better than the new one.

[pjclinch]

http://www.outdoorgearlab.com/Backpacking-Tent-Reviews/Hilleberg-Anjan-2

570 dol for that WHY

This is much like quoting the price of a Rohloff Speedhub and saying how much? when you can get a lighter derailleur setup with a similar range and a much better choice of shifters for a fraction of the cost: you're missing the point that there's more to it than counting gears. And why? To quote the review you note,

The Hilleberg Anjan 2's versatility, durability, adaptability, and weather resistance are unmatched for its 3.6 lb. weight. Top-tier materials, poles, and a time-tested tunnel design quickly made the Anjan an all-star choice among our testers, and in the end it earned our Editors' Choice Award. If we were to have a single tent for all three-season trips, including backpacking, car camping, bicycle touring, kayaking, and more, the Anjan would be it.

So that'd be why!

me i'm a fair weather tourer,when i bought my hilleberg akto i was so excited about this wonderfull 1 man tent ,ticked all the boxes and what have you,well when i pitched it for the first time i could have cryed what a piece of junk how in the hell could they justerfy the price.ok it was light easy to pitch kept out the rain but man give me a break £470 for that .
moral of this story never buy a tent until you see it pitched and packed.

Another moral is shop around. How on earth did you manage to pay £470 for an Akto? RRP is £400, and it's not that hard to save 15% over that. Never actually liked Aktos much because I prefer two doors: I'd much rather have a Tarptent Scarp as a one-person tent of choice, but Aktos have sold for years for doing a very good job for folk who've specced them out according to their needs rather than "this is expensive and well reviewed so it must be good".

sorry lads not trying to be a smart ass but surly there someone out there that know exactly what a cycle tourist wants in a tent and can make the thing.

"the thing" is a singular, cycle campers (and their tents of choice) are a very diverse species. So for what I want more often than not the nearest I've found is a Hille Kaitum 3, so that's what I use, but it certainly wouldn't tick everyone's boxes (and I'd prefer it if it were in the Anjan's materials as I don't need so much strength). Similarly my touring cycle of choice is a full-suspension recumbent and I'm not daft enough to think that'd be just the thing for everyone.

But again, if it's really that easy to design what you want, you go ahead and design it. And if it's a smart enough design to "sell millions" you shouldn't have any trouble getting someone to buy the design off you and build it. Should I hold my breath? Folk round here don't generally feel they'll get a very light, immensely reliable, strong and cheap touring bike, so it seems a bit perverse to assume a tent would be different. You can go touring happily and successfully on a £200 hybrid (which would actually be better in most respects than my first "proper" tourer bought in '89), but you'll probably have a nicer time of it on something better specified. Camping works the same way IME.

Pete.

[redfacedbaldfatman]

Thank you so much for all the opinions and advice, please do keep the discussion going as it's always good to share experience and opinions.

I think I will probably start off with the Vango Halo 200 for a few reasons: smallish pack size, reasonable price, and I want to see if I can cope with 3.6KG or not.
Don't worry, I'm sure it won't be a waste of money because I have another need for it, as a quick-pitch second tent for when we go camping by car. Our main tent is a Vango Samara 600, (like home from home ) but takes a while to pitch and take down. The Halo 200 will enable us to stop overnight at campsites en-route to our main destination and pack up the main tent a day early if rain is forecast.

So the pressure is off to decide on a bicycle-touring tent for a while and it means I can fine-tune my requirements in the meantime.
I would say my maximum is £400, simply because I'd be afraid to damage anything more expensive and I would like to try wild camping so a soft grassy pitch may not be guaranteed.
Thanks again and please keep the suggestions coming.

[jags]

i think i just got a kick in the balls from PJ
will ya relax for god sake its a friggan tent we talking about.

[PH]

Cheap, light, strong; pick two.

FWIW - There's not a single tent on the market today that I'd happily pay for. They all come with some sort of compromise. Come to think of it, there's only two brands I'd give a second thought - Hilleberg and Luxe.

Some people have trouble with the zips on Hillebergs and the Luxe uses a mesh that isn't fine enough to stop midges. Every tent has compromises, you just have to choose which to accept.
My tent is 7 years old, between 20 and 35 nights a year, I spent a long time choosing it, I knew the compromises and limitations before buying and not once have I regretted it. I only have the one and I'll keep it till it becomes unusable.

[DaleFTW]

Cheap, light, strong; pick two.

FWIW - There's not a single tent on the market today that I'd happily pay for. They all come with some sort of compromise. Come to think of it, there's only two brands I'd give a second thought - Hilleberg and Luxe.

Some people have trouble with the zips on Hillebergs and the Luxe uses a mesh that isn't fine enough to stop midges. Every tent has compromises, you just have to choose which to accept.
My tent is 7 years old, between 20 and 35 nights a year, I spent a long time choosing it, I knew the compromises and limitations before buying and not once have I regretted it. I only have the one and I'll keep it till it becomes unusable.

Like I said...

My Luxe has a no-see-um inner now btw